The second part of the final season of Cobra Kai was released at the most opportune moment for me. Personally. It dropped the night before I was set to sit on a plane for thirteen hours. After some snoozing, I strapped in and watched all five episodes back to back.
Part one left us off just as Miyagi-Do was set to take part in the Sekai Taikai over in Barcelona. The captains were set with Sam and Robby, though you could tell there was a little bit of saltiness from Miguel. Hawk and Demetri also made the team, though they are still in a bit of a beef with each other. Rounding out the team was Devon, who beat out Kenny with a bit of cheating. All of Miyagi-Do was shocked to see Tory standing as the female captain of Cobra Kai alongside Kreese. No one knew Tory turned to him in her time of emotional vulnerability, but Kreese is always good at poking the wound. He claimed that Miyagi-Do would never care about her or give her a fair chance because of her past. Shame on Tory for believing that to a certain degree, but I always have to remind myself that these are at their core, stupid, impulsive teenagers.
Miguel’s saltiness is perhaps warranted, as Robby is extremely distracted by Tory’s presence at the tournament on the opposing team. He’s beaten further when she suggests they take a break during the duration of the tournament. Tory seems to be adjusting well until she sees a drunk Robby stumble out of the top competitor’s room. Both of them are a mess and their teammates are doing their best to pick up the pieces. All I can say is that this tournament is crazy. It’s best to be watched to experience all of the intricacies, but Miyagi-Do stands strong together in the end. I think that’s a real testament to the characters’ growth throughout the season. Especially between Robby and Miguel. Sam tries her best to work through things with Tory, but it’s hard to tell if they’re able to bury the hatchet by the end of these five episodes. Hawk and Demetri finally reconcile, and when Kenny is flown in as a replacement for Miguel at one point, he and Devon are able to easily forgive each other. Heck, Kenny is even able to make peace with Anthony in this stretch of episodes!
As juvenile as teenagers can be, it’s kind of wild how immature these adults are! Even the even-tempered Danny gets swept up in the dirty tricks. Of course, seeing Kreese in attendance is jarring, though he claims that all charges against him were dropped. He’s found his place at his old Korean dojo beside Kim Da-Eun, and in fact, even usurps her leadership a lot of the time. During the tournament she makes an unexpected and hilarious connection with Chozen and this is the pairing I am now here for. They were terrific together. Danny and Johnny will never truly see eye to eye, but after some rough waters, they come close enough. It’s kind of embarrassing when a bunch of teens you’re supposed to be mentoring and leading tell you to get your shit together. While the two eventually find their stride together, they even make a bit of a truce with Kreese once they realize that Terry Silver has had his hand in things behind the scenes with the Iron Dragons team. They are the only real threat to both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do.
All of the chaos and backstabbing come to a head in the matches at the Tournament of Champions. Cobra Kai’s male captain, Kwon, is kind of scary. You can just see hatred seething out of him. What he’s exactly mad about, I’m not sure. It seems like everything. He’s ultimately the catalyst to this all-out brawl that takes place. Not only are our main characters involved, but every single attendee at the Tournament of Champions. Oh, did I mention that it’s being broadcast live across the world? Everyone is operating at their most primal self, though it’s nice to see Miyagi-Do team up with some good guys on the other teams. All of the action comes to a halt when Kwon seemingly stabs himself with Kreese’s deadly blade as he was going for Iron Dragon’s top fighter, Axel. He sure seems to be dead, but now we will have to wait for the final part to air in February to see how everything plays out.
While there has been plenty of ridiculous stuff happening over the course of Cobra Kai‘s run, this last fight was maybe the most ridiculous. With that being said, I still loved every second of it. Not only were the relationships complicated in this chunk of episodes, but how they all wove together in the final brawl was meticulous and just awe-inspiring. I also cannot imagine the time and effort it took to coordinate and choreograph that final fight scene, but my hat’s off to them. My mouth was certainly agape at the end, so I cannot wait for the final part to roll around. I’m very interested to see how the Cobra Kai creators and writers tie everything up.